Bears, City Say They Have Winner

$587 Million Stadium Rehab Will Need Legislative Assist

After years of misadventures and months of negotiation, the Chicago Bears and Mayor Richard Daley on Wednesday announced a $587 million deal to turn aging Soldier Field into a glitzy state-of-the-art stadium in time for the 2003 football season.

The plan also provides new amenities for the area around the stadium and money for unspecified future upgrades at Comiskey Park.

"I'm pleased that after years of false starts, we finally have a plan that works for taxpayers, the [neighboring] museums, the Park District, the Bears and the other teams and groups that use Soldier Field and the surrounding area," Daley said at press conference at Soldier Field.

Whether the plan works for members of the General Assembly remains to be seen, as the team and the mayor now turn their attention to Springfield.

Though no new taxes or state funds would be needed to pay for the project, the legislature must pass a law to empower the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority to issue $387 million in new bonds and permit the proceeds to be used at Soldier Field. The authority has a debt ceiling of $150 million and, under current restrictions, can only issue bonds for improvements at Comiskey, which it built.

Leaders of both parties have voiced tentative backing. But as Republican senators emerged from a long closed-door meeting with Bears officials in Springfield, support for the proposal among legislators appeared to tail off the farther south from Chicago they lived.

Under the financing plan, $100 million would come from the Bears; another $100 million from a National Football League loan to the team; and the remainder from the 30-year bonds, which would be retired with proceeds of an existing 2 percent tax on hotel bills in Chicago.

Though Daley and other officials who spoke at the news conference repeated the "no new taxes" mantra, there would be a cost to taxpayers. Under the plan, the Chicago Park District's headquarters building, located just north of the stadium, would be razed to make way for an underground parking garage.

The cost of acquiring new headquarters space would fall to the Park District, possibly with help from the city.

Some Bears fans would pay more as a result of the massive overhaul. "Personal seat licenses," which are sold to customers to guarantee the right to purchase season's tickets, would apply to about half of the new stadium's 63,000 seats. The charge for the licenses has not been determined, Bears President Ted Phillips said.

Phillips acknowledged that the initial reaction by fans of teams in cities where license requirements have been imposed has been outrage, but he said the charges ultimately have been accepted because they help deliver a better product.

Phillips predicted that Bears fans would be won over by more comfortable seating and a host of modern amenities.

Improved facilities constructed in a totally new arena within the exterior walls of the historic stadium would range from washrooms to restaurants, officials said. Sight lines would be improved, the number of end zone seats reduced, the percentage of sideline seats increased and 84-foot-wide video screens installed at the north and south ends of the stadium.

Plans call for 133 suites and 8,600 luxury "club" seats.

"The bottom line is the new Soldier Field will have all the best features of a modern stadium, including a year-round restaurant and a banquet hall for special events," Daley said. "At the same time, we will not lose the charm and dignity of this distinguished stadium. On the contrary, we will enhance it."

With Soldier Field out of commission for the 2002 season, Phillips said, the Bears would explore playing home games at college facilities at Northwestern University in Evanston, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign or the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.

Under the agreement, the Bears would sign a 30-year lease at Soldier Field.

"They drove a very hard bargain, and we will pay a significant amount of rent," said Phillips, who did not disclose the amount of the proposed rent schedule.

In return, the Bears for the first time would get 100 percent of the revenue from suites, stadium advertising and concessions on game days.

Phillips disclosed that the team also is seeking a corporate sponsor whose name would appear on the stadium in some way, though the Soldier Field moniker would be required to stay.

"It could be [something like] Motorola Stadium at Soldier Field," said Marc Ganis, president of Sportscorp Ltd., a sports consulting firm, invoking the name of the electronics giant only as an example.

Ganis said in a phone interview that quick approval of the stadium deal by the General Assembly could be critical.